


Midsummer

by Akiradrabbles



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Death, Gen, Graphic injuries, Guns, Vomiting, it all happens pretty quick, serious injury, so read with caution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 10:11:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13972812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiradrabbles/pseuds/Akiradrabbles
Summary: Juniberries were at their best bloom midsummer.





	Midsummer

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING!  
> Read with caution. This may be disturbing and potentially triggering for some readers! Everything happens pretty quickly so be cautious!

Juniberries were at their best bloom midsummer.

  
They would unravel themselves as the temperatures rose from warm spring breeze to hot summer air. The morning breeze would waft through the mountains, sweet smells drifting towards her in beautiful flourishes of soft pink petals.

  
Allura loved them.

  
Or, rather, she loves them. Despite the fact that whenever she looked at them or smelled their sweet fragrance she recoiled as if struck. She loved them, but she loved her father as well. And remembering her father with the smell of juniberries brought pleasant memories that plagued her heart and made her chest feel heavy.

  
She hated them.

  
But she loves them.

  
And remembrance isn’t all that bad, she supposed. Remembrance was fond smiles and memories; her father holding her and playing with her. Her mother humming and running her hands through Allura’s soft hair.

  
She loved those memories as much as she loved the juniberries. 

But she couldn’t smell the shimmering flowers now; she could see them in all their glory. She couldn’t imagine what they felt like between her fingertips.

  
All she could feel was pain.

  
Her leg was oozing blood, and Coran was trying to help her as much as possible with their current situation. Shiro was hissing as Hunk tried to carefully use a piece of bodysuit to cut circulation from the stump that used to hold his prosthetic. Allura could still hear the agonizing screams as it was cut off. Hunk was apologizing as he struggled, his hand bent backwards in a broken mess. Pidge was clinging to Keith, blood dripping from her head where she had been struck. Keith’s leg had been broken at the knee, and he spoke hoarsely to the young girl in his arms.

  
Allura glanced over to Lance, who was standing in front of the sealed door and screaming at the top of his lungs; mostly in a language she could not recognize. He was limping in his left foot and he paced back and forth, and his knuckles were bleeding from how many times he had punched the wall. Allura, had everyone not been in so much pain, would have made a comment that he was acting strikingly like Keith.

  
“Lance, my boy,” Coran reached out slowly, “You are only bringing more pain to yourself. Rest,”

  
“They’re cowards. All of them! bastardos! repugnantes pedazos de mierda!” He punched the wall before stepping back, but his yelling did not let up, “How dare they,” he hissed, “They aren’t even good enough to treat to your injuries! Pidge has,” he glanced at the girl, who was looking at him with tears in her eyes, “I think Pidge has a concussion. You can’t...you shouldn’t leave those untreated.”

  
“I’m okay, Lance,” Pidge tried to reason, “please calm down,”

  
Lance turned towards her, his eyes that previously were filled with rage turned somber. “Yeah,” he sighed, “Yeah. okay,” he pressed his back against the cold wall and suppressed the hiss as the sharp shiver ran up his bruised back. He sank down and rested his head in his hands.

  
“Shiro,” Keith called from beside Pidge. “What do we do?”

  
“Nothing now,” their leader spoke, his voice filled with the hope and bravery that they all needed, “We can’t risk anything with the injuries right now. We wait. When the moment is right, we’ll take it,”

  
Allura found her eyes drifting over to Lance once again, who hadn’t moved from his hunched over position. She wanted to say something, but Coran’s hand brushed over her leg and she cried out softly.

  
“Sorry! Sorry, princess,” her advisor finished wrapping the fabric around her skin and forced her body back against the wall. He stood and walked over to Pidge, inspecting her head immediately.

“Is it bad?” Hunk questioned from across the cell. Coran made a noise similar to a grunt.

  
“Not too bad. Good news is that as long as you’re careful, it should heal on its own.”

  
“If it could heal now,” Pidge groaned, “That would be nice.”

  
Allura tore her eyes away from the exchange to once again look at Lance. He hadn’t moved yet. Before she had the chance to speak, Hunk moved closer to his friend.

  
“Hey, buddy. You okay?”

  
No response.

  
“Lance-?” Hunk’s hand brushed Lance’s shoulder, and Lance startled. His head shot backward and hit the wall with a thunk. His breath escaped his lips at a rapid pace.

  
“Woah!” Hunk tried to stabilize Lance while the others looked over and shared panicked glances. “Hey-“

  
“It’s too bright,” Lance complained, screwing his eyes shut tight, “My neck hurts,”

  
“Anything else?” Coran questioned as he took a knee next to the boy.

  
“What?”

  
Coran shared a concerned look with Hunk, “Does anything else hurt?”

  
“Head. And my shoulders.”

  
“Okay. I know this may be unpleasant, with the light, but I am going to have to ask you to open your eyes. When you do, I will have my finger up. Try to follow it, okay?” Lance made no noise that signified his understanding.

  
“Lance?” Allura didn’t even realize that she was speaking until it was already said.

  
His head shot up again, but Hunk was ready and stopped it from hitting the wall. Coran had put his finger up in the air, moving it back and forth in front of the boy. He was disheartened to find that Lance’s eyes were completely unfocused and weren’t even attempting to move.

  
“Do you feel nauseous?” Coran questioned, and Lance hummed in affirmation. “Your neck seems very stiff,” the older man noted with a sigh.

  
“Do you know what’s the matter with him?” Keith asked from his seat, but his voice was laced with concern.

  
“If I’m correct, which I pray that I am not, we may be dealing with a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.”

  
“What-?” Hunk was interrupted by Coran questioning Lance once more.

  
“Lance, my boy, did you hit your head?”

  
It took several seconds for Lance to understand what was being asked of him, “Yeah...I think...I think I fell out of the...the pilot chair. Hit my head on the back wall when...we got hit. One of the Galra…” he made a sudden and jarring movement with his hand, like some object being swung downwards. This seemed to exert him, so he placed his head back down.

  
“This isn’t good.” Coran stood, “There’s nothing I can do without medical equipment.”

  
“What can happen?” Allura asked.

  
“He’s bleeding in between his brain and the tissues that surround it. I saw a few Alteans with the same symptoms back then. Unfortunately, this is quite severe.”

  
“This came on so suddenly,” Allura noted.

  
“It usually does. It’s one of the worst things about it. You can be fine one minute and down the next,”

  
“Coran, we need to know what to look out for.”

  
“Uh, yes. Yes, of course. Well, the bleeding can lead to vomiting, seizures, coma,” Pidge took a sharp inhale, “death, if it gets bad enough.”

  
The silence in the room was horrid, Allura thought. One of her Paladins. Possibly on his deathbed? They needed a new plan. They couldn’t simply wait this out anymore.

  
“Shiro,” she spoke, “We must-“

  
The door opened quickly, and more light flooded within the cell. Lance groaned and buried his head down more. Allura could hear him gagging, and Hunk hurriedly pushed him into a sitting position before Lance vomited onto the floor beside himself. Coran began to rub his back softly.

  
“Disgusting,” The Galra General that Allura knew not the name of growled from his position by the door. A gun that looked like some sort of rifle, something that the Galra rarely used, was in his hand. Her chest tightened.

  
“What do you want?” Keith hissed, baring his teeth and attempting to push himself up. His broken leg proved to make this a difficult task and he fell back down.

  
“Don’t speak. Emperor Zarkon has demanded that we execute the leader of Voltron in order to ensure our position of dominance,” he grinned.

  
“Please,” Allura begged, “I refuse that you hurt any of my paladins.”

  
A sharp laugh rang out, and Allura recoiled. “You think that the Galra empire cares about a group of young rebels? They are nothing without you, princess. They are nothing without their leader,” his gun rose.

  
“No!” Shiro and Coran cried out, but were stopped in their place by two more soldiers who came in with blasters. Pidge was sobbing into Keith’s chest.

  
Three.

  
Lance hadn’t moved.

  
She was staring into the barrel of a gun.

  
Shiro was begging for some other option- please, please don’t do this.

  
Two.

  
Hunk was watching with a horrified expression.

  
Lance hadn’t moved.

  
Allura was going to die.

  
One.

  
She wondered how painful a gunshot would be to the head - would it be quick?  
Please please please.

  
Lance moved.

It was amazing how quick he was, given the circumstances. He shot forward with speed and somehow stood his ground in front of Allura.

The gun shot.

  
A body fell.

  
Blood was on Allura’s face.

  
Lance was dead.

  
She could see his confusion. She sobbed because she could see that he had been confused. He couldn’t even comprehend his actions and he died.

  
Dead.

  
The others were screaming.

  
Allura was speechless.

  
The Galra laughed.

  
“Well, that was something,” his voice was amusingly bitter, “We must report back to Emperor Zarkon. Leave his body. We will retrieve it soon.”

  
The door was closed once again.

  
The room morphed, in Allura’s mind, into a beautiful juniberry field. She would have been joyous if not for the wilting flowers with blood speckled petals surrounding the dead body in front of her. She couldn’t smell their sweet fragrance over the decaying flesh.

  
Juniberries were at their best bloom midsummer.

  
Allura hated them.


End file.
